Blog

Free software Multimedia and Graphic Design Workshop at SRKR, Bhimavaram

Venue: Digital Learning Center, SRKR Engineering College – Organized by Swecha Learning Centre As part of the workshops organized by Swecha Learning Centre, I had the opportunity to participate and volunteer in two hands-on sessions that helped me learn several open-source creative tools Workshop 1: Audacity & Inkscape Date: 25 March 2026 In Inkscape, we learned about vector designing and …

Inside Freedom Fest 2026, Vijayawada.

My Experience as a Volunteer and Workshop Participant {WORKSHOPS} When we first began planning Freedom Fest 2026, I thought my role would mostly involve helping with logistics – arranging rooms, coordinating speakers, and guiding participants. Freedom Fest was designed to bring together technology, open knowledge. One of the most exciting parts of the fest was the diverse range of workshops …

Open Learning Sunday, Vijayawada : A Day of Learning, Sharing, and Community Spirit

On 25th January 2026, Swecha organized a meaningful and inspiring community event titled “Open Learning Sunday” at the Swecha Knowledge Center. The event brought together around 20+ participants, including students and community members. The event was thoughtfully divided into three major parts: 1. Intro to Building Projects & Open Source Contribution. This session was led by Abhilash Kakumanu , working …

Swecha AP’s stall @ 36th Book Festival – Vijayawada

The 36th Vijayawada Book Festival was held from 2nd January to 12th January 2026 at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium, Vijayawada. As part of this book festival, we were happy to participate with our own stall (Stall No. 86). At the stall, we showcased our work focused on : Our stall received an overwhelming response from students, teachers, academicians, doctors, …

Collaboration and Open Source Contributions @ PVP Siddhartha College, Vijayawada

We delivered a session on 5th Jan for 200+ students of PVPSIT-CSE Department on exploring open source, collaboration, and code contribution – not through heavy theory 📚, but by working together the way open communities actually do. We began with a simple exercise: students took a role play of developers and came together around a real problem, discussed ideas , …

Keep Android Free and Open

The new Google policy mandating developer verification for all Android apps, including those sideloaded outside the Play Store, represents a significant and troubling shift away from the core values that made Android popular: Freedom, Openness, and Developer Accessibility. Android was built on the promise of openness. Students learning to code, Developers, Free and Open-Source Software contributors were given the ability …

OSM Workshop at VITW College

We conducted a mapping workshop for Vijaya Institute of Technology for Women, Vijayawada over multiple days and introduced students to mapping on OpenStreetMap through the iD editor, EveryDoor, and taking street imagery with Mapillary. We were able to generate lot of map data although with some issues due to overlapping and concurrent edits. A community discussion ensued on the OSM …

Advocating for localised software and knowledge systems as part of International Mother Language Day

On the 25th International Mother Language Day, we set out to promote software localization, and access to knowledge in local languages. With the help of our volunteers, we organised events at seven colleges across three days in Vijayawada and one online session to advocate for broader access to technology and knowledge in Telugu. We translated Aaron Swartz’s Guerilla Open Access …

Reducing Tracking In Your Phone

Today’s mobile devices are more connected to the Internet than ever before. Every action done on our phone generates a lot of data that is shared to various companies. This data is of interest to them for various purposes such as advertising, tracking, etc. It is very valuable as it allows them to analyze people’s preferences and behaviors, market and …